Improvement in pole-couplings for street-cars



W. LEAF.

Pole-Couplings for Street-Gars N0, 154,259t Patented Aug.\18,1874.

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THE GRAFHICCKLPHOYO-LITHEI; 4l PARK P UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM LEAP, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN POLE-COUPLINGS FOR STREET-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,259, dated August 18, 1874; application filed July 15, 1814.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM LEAP, of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improved Pole-Coupling for Street- Cars, of which the following is a specieation: The object of my invention is to facilitate the coupling and uncoupling of the poles of street-cars, and I attain this object by adapting a pole-iron, A, having an eye, d, and lugs e and f on its upper and under sides, to a coupling-bar, B, secured to the platform of the car, and having a bent and tapering pin, h, all as fully described hereafter, and as illustrated by the perspective view, Figure- 1, and sectional plan'and edge views, Figs. 2 and 3, of the accompanying drawings.

The poles of street-cars are usually secured to a forked coupling-bar by a detachable pin, the coupling being heavy and expensive and diflicult to manipulate in connecting and disconnecting the pole, as the driver of the car has generally to hold the pole in one hand and the lines by which he controls the horses in the other, so that he must drop either the pole or lines in order to Withdraw and reinsert the pin. This is not only inconvenient, but the serious risk is incurred of thehorses taking fright and running away, when momentarily out of the control of the driver.

My improved coupling, which I will now proceedto describe, is entirely free from this objection, and is cheaper, lighter, and fully as strong as the ordinary coupling.

The coupling-bar B is secured tothe upper side of the platform X of the car by bolts y, as indicated by dotted lines iu Fig. 3, and has a circular enlargement, t', at its outer end, from, the center of which projects the curved and tapering coupling-pin h. The pole-iron A is secured to the pole in any suitable Inanner, and has an eye, d, adapted to the coupling-pin, a curved lug, e, on the upper side of the iron bearing against the rear of the said pin, While a corresponding curved lug, f, on its under side, bears against the curved front edge of the coupling-bar. The enlargement z', at the end of the coupling-bar, affords an eX- tended bearing for the pole-iron, and the latter is prevented from tilting by the above-men- Witnesses:

WM. A. STEEL, HUBERT HoWsoN. 

